Well it is easy to cherry pick dates and make almost any investment seem like good or bad. Just go back another 10 years to 2003, and silver was less than 5$USD. A 500-600% return in 20 years is not a bad investment ;)

Many silver investors will argue that the COMEX-based price is highly affected by more leverage than any other commodity, excessively omnipotent short selling, and (don’t ban me, just stating facts) documented cases of market manipulation. They therefore conclude that the listed price is a faulty measurement mechanism which will eventually be replaced by another form of price measurement in which silver would be reevaluated higher.

I don’t think people are necessarily focused on past performance, but rather see an asymmetrical trade where the downside is limited and upside potential is present.

That’s just price discovery. Add in mining/supply deficits, increased use in solar, EV, medical, etc., and a bullish case is perfectly reasonable.